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Door to the River; 5/24: Earlier than early (Rachel, Kitty)
Topic Started: Aug 16 2014, 06:47 PM (153 Views)
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[Continued - via a lot of goings on in past and present - from Meet the Fuckers]


Long night.

Long, long night. And not just because it had involved moments across a six year span of time. But there was still maybe a sliver of what could still be called night, not early morning left, and those things were done. And she’d brought Dad back to the room he was sharing with Mom, so there was a line, of sorts, that could be drawn under something.

He’d been… well, Rachel was still half-wondering if she should never have asked him to make that choice, of whether he wanted to come with her on the last trip, the one to the Mansion. Maybe that had been something he didn’t need to go through, and maybe it was something he wouldn’t know how to handle.

But… he had Mom, right? Or they both had each other, and it was something they were both going through now, and so they could help each other get through it. Even the very worst things in the world, you could get through. That was having someone.

Either way, well, she couldn’t live their lives for them. Or tell them how to do it. It hadn’t been all that long since Mom had been willing to even let her be a part of hers at all, and now…

…no, she couldn’t think about that yet either.

No one out in the hallways, or at least not in these hallways. That was something, though even so, Rachel stole down the corridor as softly as she could, ready to cloak herself from notice if anyone should happen to be coming the other way, because she wasn’t ready for other people yet. Not until there’d been a chance to stop, and to catch her thoughts, or just to rest, and not until she’d got a chance to speak with Kitty.

So along, and down, and left there, at that intersection, guided as much by the sense of her best friend’s thoughts as any memory of the route to the room that Kitty had let her share the night before. Doing as much as she could without needing to think at all, so much that it wasn’t until Rachel found herself drawing up outside the door that she remembered that there had been someone else sharing that room last night.

Fuck. Ohhhh.

The telepath paused, one hand on the door panel, breathing in slowly and trying to gather either her thoughts or her breath, whichever came first. Okay. She could… she could figure this out. She could wait. Or find some other place to be, and manage with her thoughts for a little longer. She probably couldn’t steal her best friend away out of her bed for the second time in less than a week, right?

Yeah, maybe not. Though - okay. A little judicious powers usage gave a clearer picture of what was going on behind that door. Okay, Kitty was still asleep, but Wisdom wasn’t, and he was… moving away somewhere. Maybe that would give her long enough to just see her best friend again for a little while. That would help, and she could leave them alone together again after that.

Resolving on that in the space of a moment, Rachel pushed on the door panel, activating the mechanism that was almost - though not quite - silent enough. A couple of forcefields too, to smooth out the ripples in the air that would have carried the whispering sound, that should be enough to keep the wariest of people from noticing as she slipped inside the room, then stole across the floor to the bed, and to Kitty. Trying not to think about the lump in her throat that was growing bigger, not smaller, now that she was this close to the Person she’d been counting on to make it easier.

Well, she was here, at least. So Rachel swallowed at that lump one more time, and slid into the bed beside Pryde, wrapping one arm around and over her best friend’s stomach without so much as a thought spared for how much or how little she was wearing. Just holding her close, dropping her forehead down to the rest lightly on the back of her best friend’s shoulder, and then closing her eyes.

Just for a little while, that was all she needed. And it didn’t count as stealing her again if she didn’t make her disappear anywhere this time, right?
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[Cont'd from Chasing The Night]

Somewhere in that foggy state of still being mostly asleep, Kitty registered Pete carefully untangling himself. From her and from the sheets. Moving toward the bathroom before she drifted back down toward dreams. Morning would come too soon, if it wasn't already here, and she was still aware enough to know they'd need what sleep they could get while they could get it.

The next thing, though, she was drifting up again. Back toward awake as an arm wrapped over her, someone next to her and a slight weight against her shoulder. Pete? That was fast, or she'd drifted back to fast asleep faster then she'd thought.

No, not Pete, the brunette realized barely a second later. Just enough time for her to come out of that fog of sleep again. Not Pete, but still familiar.

Ray.

It was so familiar that Kitty didn't think much of it. Pete, well, he'd get used to it, though he might wish he'd taken a pair of boxers in the bathroom with him. So familiar that she'd let herself start drifting back to completely asleep again before something stopped her.

Some sense of...something. Something that had her frowning and turning her head a little, trying to look back. All she got a glimpse of was Rachel's red hair on the top of her head. That 'something' - maybe they could call it her Rachel Sense - buzzed stronger and, more or less awake, Kitty turned over. Wrapped her arms around Ray's back and hugged her gently.

"Ray?" she asked quietly, voice still rough and sounding muffled and groggy from sleep. Brown brows drew downward. Something wasn't right. "Are you okay?" Kitty asked her best friend, knowing already that was a relative term the last few days.

They were working on a sliding scale at this point.
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Kitty was warm. And familiar. And happy. Contented, maybe that was the word for it, and the sense of being at peace that spread out from just being near her brain. Holding her for a little while, till maybe she’d be close enough to that for herself to hold together till there was a better time for this.

Just a little while. She’d -

Kitty stirred, then stirred again, a little more, twisting her head around. Then her whole body around, till they were face to face and her best friend was hugging her back and not letting go. Rachel bit down on the inside of her lip, tightening her own arm a little too, all of it to keep her thoughts together. She couldn’t fly apart. Not now. Not yet.

This time, she needed to hold herself together, just long enough for that sense that the world wasn’t at the edge of flying apart to seep back in.

“Ray?” [Kitty] asked quietly, with the last vestiges of sleep in her voice, though those seemed to disappear too as Rachel felt, rather than saw, her best friend start to frown. “Are you okay?" Kitty asked, though it was the kind of question that already came with the answer understood, the way she’d asked it.

She knew, of course. Maybe not what, but that there was a what. Call it perils of sharing a brain for as long as they had, though right now Rachel was glad- no, not glad, but relieved, maybe that was it- not to have to think about whether she ought to try to lie.

“No,” she admitted, without looking up, or even opening her eyes. Not until she’d taken another breath, and held it for a moment, till there was a point that was something like a center inside her head again. Then Rachel looked up, searching for her best friend’s eyes in the dimness that barely counted as any light at all. “But I will be. I just need a little time,” she explained.

That was all. There'd be a way to deal with this too, once she'd had time to get her head together. There always was. But right now? Just a little time.
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Whatever it was - and it was something, she didn't have to be completely awake to tell; she'd known Ray too long - well, a return hug couldn't hurt anything. Something told her her best friend could use one right now, whether this was something new or a wee hours visit from the ghosts of all the crap of the last few days, dropping in to poke at her best friend when there wasn't anything else around to distract her.

Ray's arms tightened in around her and Kitty was mostly awake enough to use her voice now. Call her by name as the last of the sleep grogginess vanished. Ask her if she was okay, even when she already knew the answer.

It was just a matter of what, and there was a large selection. Hopefully not anything new, but Kitty wouldn't be surprised at that, either. This place was really, really good at throwing a lot of things at you, whether you were ready for them or not.

And just because you were someone who had a lot of experience dealing with bad things, even bad things like some of the things here, that didn't mean you wanted to keep doing it. Or that you got used to it. It was like Logan said once: If you got used to it, it was probably time to stop doing it.

“No,” Ray admitted, pulling in a breath and pausing. Kitty waited, let her settle whatever was going on in her head. Give her time to do that before she asked anything else. After a few moments, the redhead raised her head and Kitty could barely make out her face in what very little light there was. “But I will be. I just need a little time,” she explained and Kitty gave her a gentle squeeze, searching her friends eyes as best she could.

She might be Shadowcat, but she still couldn't see in the dark all that well.

"Time we've got," Kitty assured her, "All you want." She would be okay. Somehow, even after all the crap she'd gone through and still sometimes had to go through, Rachel always was.

"Feel like talking about it?" the brunette asked quietly. Pete would be out of the bathroom soon, but he wouldn't mind finding something else to keep him busy for a little while she didn't think.
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Just a little time. She’d just tell herself that, over and over again, and now tell it to Kitty too, and it would be true. They’d figure it out.

See? That little squeeze? That was what that meant. That it would work out, and she’d be okay again. Not now, but soon, maybe.

“Time we've got," Kitty assured her, "All you want.”

Did she know? Had she guessed? Rachel looked to her friend, without seeing much more than the general shape of face with shadowed features. But did she? Sometimes, for someone who wasn’t a telepath, Kitty definitely did a better than creditable version of mindreader, at least for her. Brain shareage again, maybe. Or that genius brain of hers, alternatively.

Either way, Rachel wasn’t sure which it was this time, and couldn’t bring herself to take the mental step toward the brunette’s thoughts to tell. Instead, she smiled weakly - okay, maybe there needed to be just a little light here, didn’t there? Not too much - ah, there, that was the wall that had the windows. Just a little TK to raise the shade enough to let a thin sliver of a grayish not-quite light yet light through onto the bed, that was better. Now she could make out Kitty’s face a little better.

“Feel like talking about it?" the brunette asked quietly.

Rachel hesitated, glancing for a moment toward the bathroom, and the other person she’d forgotten was still there. She should go, shouldn’t she? Let them have the moments that they could still get together tonight. But Wisdom - Pete - would understand. Wouldn’t he? After the roof, and the reception, Rachel thought that maybe he would understand, and let her away with not leaving. Kitty wouldn’t think of it for a second. She did know that. So- did she want to talk about it?

“I think so. Yes,” Rachel said, nodding to confirm that to herself, as much as to her best friend, only to lapse into a semi-scattered silence all over again. Say what, though? What she’d done, or what part of her was still thinking? Earlier? Before that? With Hope, and her father? “I went into the past,” she said abruptly, the decision about where to start made by her mouth, as much as her head. “Two different parts of it.”

She had to pause then, to swallow back enough voice to speak again, and looked back up from the point on the bed she’d got caught up staring at to look to Kitty one more time. “To see my sister And… Mom.” She’d still been Mom. She always was, no matter what world. No matter what she’d been left as, after He’d done what he had to her. But even that… wasn’t. It wasn’t alll of this. “And my little brother,” Rachel finished, falling silent again.
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If Ray needed time, well, they had it. Right now, there wasn't anywhere anybody had to be. Not yet. So, whatever of that time she wanted or needed, it was hers.

Rachel was looking at her. She couldn't so much see it as feel it in the dark. Thinking, maybe. Or maybe just taking a second to raise the blind over the window a little. Let some weak light in, but still more than what they had before. Enough to make out her best friend's face in the dark.

Better. Even if Ray's expression seemed a little strained, even not being able to see it well.

Okay, next question. One that Kitty asked quietly, because she needed to ask. Was this something Ray wanted to talk about? Or could talk about? If not, that was okay. Sometimes there were things you couldn't, even with your best friend. Or at least couldn't right away.

If she did, then the brunette was sure Pete could find something to do with himself for a few minutes. Once he found his boxers, anyway. Maybe his pants. He wouldn't mind, she didn't think.

Ray was quiet and her head turned toward the bathroom. Wondering about Pete, but she shouldn't. It might be something Pete would have to get used to a little, but he also knew the score when it came to her and Rachel. He'd seen enough to know that friendship came with the package. He wasn't the sort of man that would begrudge that. If that was the case, they'd have never gotten this close to begin with.

“I think so. Yes,” Rachel said, nodding and then going quiet again. “I went into the past,” she said abruptly, and Kitty frowned. The past? Here the past? “Two different parts of it.”

Another pause as the brunette pondered the significance of that. Rachel didn't usually go wandering around the past just for the hell of it. Or the timestream in general. So there had to be reasons. Good reasons.

Her best friend looked back up at her from where she'd been staring at some random spot on the bed. “To see my sister And… Mom.” Oh god. Hope. And Jean Grey from this world. She hadn't-god she hadn't gone to see them in the pens, had she? Ahab's pens, on this world? “And my little brother,” Rachel finished, confirming Kitty's suspicions and adding another one that was just as concerning.

"Oh god, Ray," the brunette said, hugging her best friend tighter. "Why didn't you come get me? I'd have gone with you. You know I would've." The idea of Rachel facing all that alone? No, she didn't even want to think about that.

No reason to ask Rachel why she went at all. There were some things she'd feel like she needed to do, when it came to family. But god, she'd never have let her do that by herself. Not in a million years.
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Yes. She felt like talking about it. Rachel thought she did, anyway. Though coming to that decision, even deciding it aloud, wasn’t quite the same as having the words on hand to describe that ‘it’. It took her a little while to find any more words at all, though when they did come, they came out rapidly, firing into the empty space of waiting and listening that Kitty always managed to make for her, no matter what it was she was trying to speak about.

She’d gone into the past. Two parts of the past.

That deserved a pause. Another one, to let Kitty to digest that before she started trying to explain with words that she already knew probably wouldn’t really be enough. Or maybe just to catch her own voice back, swallowing the constriction in her throat, so that she could form the words.

She’d gone to see her sister. On the night she was born, though she could explain that part later. After. Her sister, and Mom too - and yes, she could feel that surprise, or concern, or whatever the word was when those got mixed together, radiating from her best friend’s mind, but she couldn’t stop to try to explain that any better yet. Because that had only been one of the places in the past. The other had been to her little brother.

“Oh god, Ray," the brunette said, pulling the hug that they were still both holding on to tighter all over again, filling her brain with the kind of concern that meant that you were understood, and had someone looking out for you. The good kind, that meant.

“Why didn't you come get me? I'd have gone with you. You know I would’ve.”

“I do know,” Rachel told her, frowning a little. Out of confusion, more than anything, because it didn’t occur to her to do anything but consider that question as carefully as it deserved. She had known what Kitty was doing when she’d made the decision, yes. That could have been part of it, especially since she also knew, very well, though Kitty would never have grudged it for even a second, how much her best friend had needed that stretch of time that was hers, and hers to be happy in, after everything this week.

That wasn’t the real truth, though. Not of what had happened, so after a moment’s thought, Rachel shook her head, and tried to explain what that had been. “I was helping Mimic put Hope to bed, and I figured out what I needed to do for her,” she said, then paused, and shook her head, correcting herself. “What I had already done for her. With Him.” It had happened, in that swift moment of clarity, and she’d known that there could probably be only one way that He would ever have spared Hope the way that he had. “Then I had to do it, and right then, before I lost my nerve,” Rachel finished, stiffening her shoulders slightly as she remembered.

He’d been… younger. More like the Doc still. Physically. She almost hadn’t been prepared enough for that. But she’d had to do that for herself, and to make sure it was done. That was all.

“I took Dad with me after,” the telepath continued after a second’s pause, worrying her lower lip between her teeth a little. “To see my brother.”

She’d thought he deserved the chance to get to choose that. And he had. Which meant that it should have been the right decision, but it still felt… uncertain, maybe.
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Ray had gone back. Back into the past of this world. Back to see her sister, and Jean. This world's version of her mother. Which meant...probably back to the Hound pens, didn't it?

The place where Hope had been born. Where she'd been raised, but somehow from what Kitty understood came out of that place whole. Undamaged, or as undamaged as it was at all possible to be when you were raised in a place like that. Miraculously undamaged in a way that meant, for whatever reason, Ahab hadn't done all the things to her that he should've done, that could've expected to be done to her, with him being who he was.

Ahab. Rory. Kitty still was having trouble fitting that into her head, and god. What would that have been like for Ray? Going there, to that place and that man and those pens that would've been so much like what she remembered from her own past?

She couldn't imagine, but she could hug Ray tighter. Oh god, she'd gone by herself? To that, and to see her little brother that a woman named Madelyne Pryor had sent out of this world before he'd barely had a chance to be in it? Rachel should've come and gotten her. Taken her with her. She'd have gone, she had to know she would've. That was something she'd never, ever want her best friend to do by herself.

“I do know,” Rachel told her, frowning a little or Kitty thought it was a frown as best she could tell in the still dim room. Thinking it over, the way Rachel tended to do.

Then Ray shook her head. “I was helping Mimic put Hope to bed, and I figured out what I needed to do for her,” she said, then paused, and shook her head, correcting herself. “What I had already done for her. With Him.” What she'd- Of course. The mystery of why Hope hadn't been another of Ahab's projects. The reason, and the reason had been Rachel. “Then I had to do it, and right then, before I lost my nerve,” Rachel finished, and Kitty let out a breath, nodding. Giving her best friend another gentle squeeze as she tensed a little under what couldn't be good memories.

"I get it," the brunette told her quietly. "I still wish you'd come and gotten me, but I get it." Some things, there wasn't time. You had to go, and do, and right then, or not at all.

“I took Dad with me after,” the telepath continued after a second’s pause, and Kitty was glad the light was dim so Ray couldn't see the automatic frown that came to her face at that. “To see my brother.” Scott...maybe he had a right to go for that, to see the little boy that could've been his son, was his son, in another life. But -

Well, Scott Summers wasn't exactly a great source of support, was he? Maybe that wasn't quite fair, but Ray deserved a little more than someone who tended to get too wrapped up in how things affected them and forget about anyone else.

"That had to be hard," Kitty answered after a second, trying to search her friend's face in the dark. "That had to be so hard, for both of you." And Scott didn't seem to be cut out for interdimensional travel to begin with. He hadn't...adjusted very well here, from what she'd seen, or from what she'd heard. "You've got to be exhausted after all that." Emotionally, physically, psychically. But it was something Ray would feel like she'd needed to do. She wouldn't be Ray if she didn't.

"Did-how did Scott hold up?" she asked, wondering if that was part of this, too. That he hadn't held up well at all.

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She knew. She did know, that Kitty would have come with her, if she’d asked, no matter what else had been happening. But the truth was that it had happened quickly - the pieces had come together only while she’d been helping Mimic get Hope into bed, and then once they had, she couldn’t stop. Couldn’t wait. Couldn’t risk losing her nerve before she’d gone to do the thing she’d known then that she’d done four years ago.

Couldn’t risk anyone else in there between her and Him, either, but that was something Rachel wasn’t quite ready to trust herself to say, even to her best friend.

Kitty understood though. The first of it, what she’d said. She was nodding. Hugging her tighter again, making it closer to alright. “I get it," the brunette told her quietly. "I still wish you'd come and gotten me, but I get it.”

That was it, then. What she’d needed to hear, and Rachel tightened her arms around her friend for a long second, a silent thank you to the brunette being her. And she could tell Kitty the rest later, when it felt safer to let what had happened there out of her head and share it in words. Not yet, though. Not yet, because she wasn’t sure she’d let that conversation get through her head far enough yet for it to be something that could be out again. So… the rest. The other part of the night.

She hadn’t been alone for that part. She’d taken Daddy, when she’d gone to see her brother. To see the little, smiling baby boy at the Mansion. His son, in every way that she was still his daughter, no matter how many universes there were between them. He’d had a right to be there, and she’d given him a choice, and he’d chosen - he’d chosen - to go with her.

Silence, for a moment, after she’d said it. Silence, and a shape to her best friend’s thoughts that wasn’t all that hard for the telepath to appreciate and put where it needed to be. Kitty thought and looked out for her first. That was all. “That had to be hard," Kitty answered after a second, trying to search her friend's face in the dark. "That had to be so hard, for both of you.”

Rachel managed a nod in the half light, or at least something close to a nod, but had to bite down on her lip so hard that words weren’t even an option. Even from her mind, they weren’t an option, because what could you say? They’d gone there. They’d seen him. Held him. Said hello and goodbye in one little meeting.

Hard. Yes. She didn’t think she had any more words that could add to that.

You’ve got to be exhausted after all that.”

“I don’t even know any more,” Rachel admitted, shaking her head. Exhausted? This was exhausted, wasn’t it? Feeling like your brain had been pressed down by a trash compactor, so that nothing in it worked anymore. “Yeah,” she added, with a nod, or half of one. “Tired. Numb. All those things.” A little more time, and she’d find herself again, like she always did. Like you always could, if you didn’t give up. But not now. Not yet.

“Did-how did Scott hold up?" [Kitty] asked then, perhaps knowing, sensing, that it would be easier to change the subject now. Even to that. Taking a moment to think before she spoke, Rachel breathed in deeply, through her nose, and then disentangled herself gently from her friend, so that she could sit up on the bed, drawing her knees up in front of her, then wrapping her arms across them, looking over the top toward Kitty.

“He’s Dad. He was… him,” she told her friend, hesitating a little. How could you really explain that, even to someone who did know him? They’d know what it looked like, certainly. But what it was, what it had been? That was harder to explain. “He held him,” Rachel continued though, trying anyway, “Baby Chris. He held him. Then he just… went away, and tucked himself up so deeply in his head even I had to work to find him in there.” Where even he couldn’t really find himself. “I thought-“

What had she thought, though? That it could be something he could hold onto, somehow? One good moment, no matter what else had had to come, that couldn’t have been avoided? That now he’d have to bear it too? Realizing she’d lost her voice, Rachel squeezed her eyes shut quickly, and shook her head. “God, I don’t know. It was a bad idea, maybe.” Or maybe just one she hadn’t done right. Hadn’t prepared him enough for what it would be.

“He’s got Mom, though,” she added, telling herself as much as her best friend. More, probably. “He’ll be able to talk to her about it soon. Be there for each other.”

That was what you did. When you loved someone like that, you did that for each other. You understood, and you were there, and you were that person for each other, no matter what else had happened to either of you. That was what it meant to have someone, and Mom and Dad still had each other here, no matter any of the rest of it. She had to keep telling herself that, and it would feel better, and more certain, less precarious, as soon as all the pieces in her brain were smoothed and working again, that was all.
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Yeah, she got it. Still didn't like the idea of Ray doing that alone, and Kitty still wished she'd have come got her, but she got why she hadn't. Or hadn't been able to.

There might be more, things that Ray wasn't saying as her best friend tightened her arms around her in turn. There almost had to be, didn't there? But it wasn't the time.

Not now. Not when it was all this fresh. Ahab, those pens, the Jean of this world. Hope. Then going back to see little Christopher Summers, who'd been her brother. Who'd never gotten the chance Hope would have. The chance to grow up.

Ray hadn't been alone for that one. Her dad had gone with her, but Kitty couldn't help but wonder. Would he have made it easier? Or worse? Probably Scott had a right to go, see that little boy that could've been his son, had been his son in another life. But, well, Scott Summers wasn't exactly great at the support thing.

Kitty didn't say that, though. He was Ray's dad, regardless, and that had to have been hard. For both of them. To go and see that little boy and know there was nothing they could do for him to stop what was coming.

Rachel nodded, the brunette caught the bob of her head in the dim light from the window. Hard and heartbreaking...yeah, she knew a little of what that was like. Not in quite so personal a way, but she did remember the feeling all too well. Sitting in pre-World War II Scotland, determined to do something to change what she knew was coming. And knowing at the same time there was nothing she could do.

After all that, Ray had to be completely exhausted.

“I don’t even know any more,” Rachel admitted, shaking her head. And, yeah, she could get that, too. Too much, in too little time, relatively speaking. “Yeah,” she added, with a nod, or half of one. “Tired. Numb. All those things.”

Another squeeze, since there wasn't much else she could do for that. Other than be here and let her be numb and tired as long as she needed to. "Yeah, I think all that kind of comes with the territory."

Time for some sort of, well, not exactly change in subject but shift at least. Let Ray have some time to process her own stuff. And Kitty couldn't help but wonder how Scott had held up to that. However much he might've managed to annoy her this week, he hadn't had it easy here, either. The circumstances and this world in general hadn't been good to him.

In a lot of ways he'd been working under a handicap. The fact that he hadn't seemed to handle it all very well so far just added another layer of difficult onto what was already there.

Ray took a breath, pulled back and sat up, arms wrapping around her knees before the redhead looked back her way. “He’s Dad. He was… him,” which Kitty guessed said enough as she sat up herself, dragging the bedsheet part of the way with her. “He held him,” Rachel continued though, trying anyway, “Baby Chris. He held him. Then he just… went away, and tucked himself up so deeply in his head even I had to work to find him in there.” Where even he couldn’t really find himself. “I thought-“

Hand reaching up, she laid it on Ray's shoulder, giving it a light squeeze, sent her a small, hopefully reassuring smile in the dark. She'd thought maybe it would make it easier for him. Or hoped it would. That he'd hold onto the good, and not focus so much on the bad. Or the things he couldn't change by sheer force of will and stubbornness.

That he wouldn't see it all as some sort of failure on his part by alternate dimensional proxy.

“God, I don’t know. It was a bad idea, maybe.” Ray continued, finding her voice again and shaking her head. There was more an impression that she'd actually closed her eyes than actually seeing her do it in the low light.

"No," Kitty countered softly, squeezing her shoulder again and looking over at her best friend. "He deserved to have that choice, Ray." And Scott had made it and if he wanted to use that to beat himself up or whatever, well, that was his choice, too.

“He’s got Mom, though,” she added, telling herself as much as her best friend. More, probably. “He’ll be able to talk to her about it soon. Be there for each other.” God, she really hoped that was right. For Rachel's sake. This universe hadn't been kind to either of them, really.

"They will," Kitty assured her, wrapping her arm around Ray's shoulders. "He's been stuck like glue to Jean's side all week. He's been right there, through all this whole mess." That, she had to give Scott. It couldn't have been easy, just from what she knew and Kitty knew she didn't have all the gritty details. "If he'll talk to anybody, it's her. If anybody can drag it out of him if he doesn't," she added with a half-smile, "it's your mom."

Letting out a breath, Kitty gave Ray's shoulders a squeeze again, still wearing that same half-smile. "And you've always got me. We're pretty good at getting through stuff, you know."
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Dad? How was he?

He was… him. He’d been - what she probably she should have expected, knowing Daddy. He’d been there. He’d held her brother. Then he’d buried himself so deep in his head that- but she’d thought, maybe…

No need to finish those words with Kitty though. Her best friend knew her father too, and was already putting a hand to her shoulder, squeezing gently. No more words necessary to fill in that. They’d have felt like they were edging on disloyal, anyway. Better unsaid.

Maybe she’d been wrong, anyway. She… didn’t know, anymore. Maybe it had just been a bad idea, going to him, and giving him that choice, that he’d taken, then taken like this. Maybe she should just have thought it through more, or better, before dumping that choice on him.

“No,” Kitty countered softly, squeezing her shoulder again and looking over eyes only mostly visible in the dim light. Still, she had no doubt at all in her voice, or in her mind, and Rachel was grateful for that. “He deserved to have that choice, Ray.”

Rachel looked back at her - at least as well as she could in this light - but after a moment, she nodded. Grateful, still, to her best friend, for providing that when she couldn’t seem to find it like she knew she should have.

Daddy had Mom, though. That much, she still didn’t need to convince herself of. And he’d be able to talk to her about it, because that was what people did. That was what you had, with someone who meant something. Talking to each other, and being there for each other. Yes, she was telling herself here, more than Kitty, but it was true. That was how it worked.

“They will," Kitty assured her, with an arm that wrapped tight around her shoulders again, reinforcing that message, even with her thoughts. “He’s been stuck like glue to Jean's side all week. He's been right there, through all this whole mess.”

And Mom would be there for him. And soon enough - it would be okay again. It had to be.

“If he'll talk to anybody, it's her. If anybody can drag it out of him if he doesn't," [Kitty] added with a half-smile, "it's your mom.”

Rachel nodded, only slightly weakly. Mom knew. Mom - she wanted him to be okay, as much as anyone. Whatever - everything, that had happened here, that was still true. Or it would be too. “She’s… doing better, I think,” she said, and it was agreement, really. Mostly. “She seems better.” Not as huddled. Not as turned in on herself, trying to block out the rest of the world.

Kitty breathed out, and there was another comforting squeeze at her shoulders, speaking to all of it in a way that was even more comforting than the words that had been, or even the ones that followed. “And you've always got me. We're pretty good at getting through stuff, you know.”

“We are pretty much the best at that,” Rachel agreed, pulling air in through her nose till she felt the world get more real, and less shaky again. They’d been through enough to be confident about that. And there was Kitty, and she’d already made this all seem that little bit closer to manageable, just by being here, and being her. “Thanks,” the telepath added, reaching over to pull her friend in for another hug.

There was more, of course. There wasn’t ever not more. But a little break before that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world either.
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No, Rachel...she'd made the right decision. The only one she could've made, Kitty thought as she gave her best friends shoulders another squeeze and turned her way in the faint light. It was a choice Scott - no matter how annoying he might've been during all this - deserved to be able to make himself.

If he'd made the wrong one? Then that was on him, not Rachel, but either way he deserved to have that choice. Even if it might've ended up being more than he bargained for. Or more than he could strictly deal with right now. Later, he might be glad he'd taken that one chance, to go see the little boy that might've been his, despite how hard it had to have been.

Ray turned her way and nodded after a couple of seconds, the movement barely perceptible in the almost-dark. Kitty's lips curved into a small, tight smile that probably wasn't visible, but was there all the same. Parents were hard. Dealing with them was hard. Whatever dimension they happened to come from.

And Scott, well, he was harder than most, she suspected. He didn't handle things the same as Ray. Or the same as almost anyone, but Rachel was right there, too. He had Jean, and she had Scott, and they'd been through a ton of crap in this world so far. Some of it they might've made harder than it had to be (yeah, looking at you, Cyclops and his idea that he was somehow in charge here, too), some of it was horrible luck and accident, some of it was just the nature of the world.

He'd hardly left Jean's side for a second, though, since the stuff in Connecticut and if anyone on earth could manage to get Scott to talk, or even admit there was anything to talk about, it was Jean. If anyone could drag it out of him regardless, that was her, too.

Again, Ray nodded. Maybe not as definite a nod as Kitty would've liked to have seen, but definitely a nod and right now she'd take it. None of this had been at all easy on her best friend, either. Not back home, not here. It was a world full of shadows of all the worst things in her life.

“She’s… doing better, I think,” she said, and it was agreement, really. Mostly. “She seems better.” And she did. She had, from what she'd seen last night, even. Kitty hadn't expected her to show up at the strip club, but she had, along with Warren. Maybe Jean had still looked a little fragile, but it was still better than anyone had a right to expect from her after all that.

"Jean's pretty tough. She'll get through it." It wouldn't be easy, but she'd gotten through as bad, or worse, and she had support. That was a huge thing. So did Rachel, for that matter. Hey, she'd always have her and the two of them were pretty good at getting through stuff, too. They'd had a lot of practice over the years.

“We are pretty much the best at that,” Rachel agreed, and the brunette heard her take a breath and that was good. Most anything was handleable if you just kept breathing. Taking it one breath at a time. “Thanks,” Ray added, wrapping her up in a hug that Kitty happily returned.

"Any time," she assured her best friend, and she meant that. She always meant that. Giving her friend a tight squeeze, Kitty pulled back, glancing toward the bathroom door or where she knew the bathroom door was.

"I should probably take Pete his boxers, huh?" the brunette added with a little bit of a half grin, "Before he just decides to come back out without them."

And, knowing him, he just might.

Then he could make himself scarce and busy with some coffee or whatever for a little while. At least this time, she wasn't just vanishing from the room.
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Yeah, there was Mom. Dad had her, like Kitty said, and she… was doing better. Or she seemed like she was. A little less huddled, a little more at piece with herself, however many extra pieces there might be.

“Jean’s pretty tough. She'll get through it.”

Which was true, Rachel echoed to herself, nodding in the dim light. Mom would get through this. She had- Dad. She had people back home who loved her, and she’d find a way. Mom did that.

And, like Kitty added, they did too. They got through stuff, her and Pryde, and they were pretty good at it. The best, even. Maybe just because even when nothing was different, and nothing was any better, at least with Kitty around being her smart brilliant self, the world turned back into a place where even if things weren’t fixable, they were real. That’d be the start to being endurable, at least.

A hug was needed, then, by the laws of Personhood, and thanks, too. Because just because Kitty might not grudge her showing up in the depths of morning and invading her bed didn’t mean that it wasn’t something that deserved thanks. “Any time," she assured Rachel, and there was one more hug, but- yeah, there. A glance to the bathroom door, which still had Pete behind it, didn’t it?

Hopefully he’d learn soon, if he hadn’t already, that ‘any time’ when it came from Kitty was also going to apply to him by extension. And maybe he did - he’d acted like he did, on the roof on Saturday, though admittedly that hadn’t been under circumstances of having his room invaded while he was naked, which some people did seem to make exceptions for.

“I should probably take Pete his boxers, huh?" the brunette added with a little bit of a half grin, which was less like reading her mind and more like they both knew by now how things went. “Before he just decides to come back out without them.”

Playing along, Rachel grimaced, though there might have been a ghost of a grin of her own lurking underneath it somewhere. “Yeah, no one wants to see that,” she informed her friend, then paused, looking speculatively (as speculatively as you could look in the semi-dark) at her best friend. Her also basically naked best friend. “Except maybe you.” Which definitely required another look in the direction of the bathroom, coupled to a slight lift of her eyebrows. Kitty would know it was there, even if she couldn’t see it, Rachel felt pretty sure of that. “You really want to see that?”

Though yeah, there was no accounting for taste, especially when accents got involved, and they’d both kind of proved that before, hadn’t they? They- well, Rachel still didn’t want to think too hard about her side of things there, but bringing up Kitty’s was almost like a substitute. For now… yeah, for now it’d do.
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Any time. Rachel already knew that but it bore repeating.

So did the hug, and then there was a short time out, while the brunette glanced at the bathroom door and reminded herself that Pete was still in there. Probably ready to come out, but also probably being kind of held hostage by the lack of clothes.

Or, well, also possibly not being held hostage, because something told her that he'd eventually wander out anyway. Rachel or no Rachel, clothes or no clothes. Pete might not be an extrovert, but he wasn't shy, either. Then she had to pause a second to consider if anyone in the room would actually care?

Yeah, probably not.

Still, it'd just be easier all around if she found his boxers and shoved them at him so he could wander off for coffee or a cigarette or whatever he wanted for a few minutes.

Rachel was making some sort of face. Kitty didn't have to guess too hard to figure out what kind, even if there wasn't a lot of light, but she was pretty sure there was something close to a grin in there, too. “Yeah, no one wants to see that,” she informed her friend, then paused, and there was a look. Kitty could feel the look and her brows inched up a little. Okay, what? “Except maybe you.” Yeah, okay, that. Which was, yeah, obvious right now, huh? Ray's head turned toward the bathroom, then back her way. Yeah, she didn't need to see much there, she could feel that look, too. The one that involved a raised eyebrow from the redhead and she tried not to grin. “You really want to see that?”

Annnd there it was. Kitty gave her eyes an amused roll toward the ceiling, made a sound between a snort and a laugh, and grinned at her best friend. "Actually? Yeah. And I have," she pointed out, which was likely obvious by now, still grinning, "I just don't want to have to listen to him singing Queen again." Once was enough.

Maybe Pete could stand a little more sun, too, while she was at it.

She could bring up Rory, the tongue tied psychiatrist, as a counter measure, and probably would've. Except, yeah, not really the time right now. Not the subject to bring up with, well, everything else tonight, especially.

"I have predictable taste, what can I say?" she admitted with something between a smirk and a grin, pushing back the covers and trying to remember exactly where the clothes had all got scattered to. Pretty sure last sighting of Pete's boxers was somewhere over near the light switch.
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Wisdom, making what he’d presumably considered to be some kind of point or other, wandering back out without stopping for boxers. All too easy to imagine, which was at least a little unfortunate, given that was something no one wanted to see.

Possibly excepting Kitty, Rachel had to allow a moment later, though not without giving in to an urge to claim a little normality back from this night (or morning, depending on your perspective). Raise her eyebrows and just, well, you know. Double check that her best friend actually wanted to see that.

Yeah, yeah. Eye rolling and snorting. Those could still be interpreted to further her point, couldn’t they? Or no, okay, not really, but the sound of someone amused and laughing was pretty welcome right now. “Actually? Yeah. And I have,” Kitty pointed out, with a grin that said she might just be ready to retaliate with details or mental images if pressed.

“What, no courtesy blindfold?” Rachel snuck in there, still holding on to the slight teasing grin of her own. Not really seriously (or not really allll that seriously), but Kitty would already know that. Especially since this was still technically at least partly her room her best friend had got sex all over.

“I just don't want to have to listen to him singing Queen again.” Which meant that whatever she might have realized suited her about the Worst Spy Ever, at least she hadn’t completely lost her sanity along the way. Good to know.

Good to know that there was a smile like that one she was wearing now still lurking in Pryde’s repertoire, too. If Wisdom could do something that had her wearing it, then yeah, he was doing something okay. “I have predictable taste, what can I say?”

So there went the bedclothes, or at least enough of them to let Kitty out to look at, what? The disaster trail of strategically scattered clothes on the floor? Or just anywhere that meant she didn’t have to see the expression of ‘are we really going from Piotr to Pete through the two Alistaires and calling it predictable? Are we?’ that Rachel couldn’t help but wear just a little of as she watched some kind of thoughtful search process beginning. “Not exactly the adjective I’d have used. But you’re happy,” she told her friend, supplying the brunette with a little more light for whatever it was she was doing by hitting the light switch with a gentle pulse of TK, “that’s all I need to know.”

And she did already know, no need to ask. It wasn’t a powers thing, or even a brainshare thing. Just knowing Kitty, and knowing what happy looked like on her.
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